


Balancing on the Knife's Edge

by ximeria



Series: 2014 Fic-A-Week (all the XMFC AUs) [37]
Category: X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) - Fandom, X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Canon - Movie, Cold War, M/M, cold war politics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-13
Updated: 2014-09-13
Packaged: 2018-02-17 06:47:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2300309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ximeria/pseuds/ximeria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erik had, apparently, found the perfect hiding place for his newly (re)formed Brotherhood. Of course Charles had to rain on his parade.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Balancing on the Knife's Edge

**Author's Note:**

  * For [oneiriad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneiriad/gifts), [Aeshna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeshna/gifts).



> I've always wanted to set a story in my own country and thanks to Smitty, it was nowhere near as hard as I'd expected. And because Oneiriad kept pestering me about it ;) (I know you had other hopes for this, but the cold war politics are one of my great interests and it kept intruding).

Erik drew a deep breath and fought the urge to check that his helmet really was in place. It wasn't that he didn't trust Charles, but - well, Erik hadn't survived for so many years by blindly trusting anyone.

The engines of what had to be another one of Beast's inventions echoed off the granite walls of the area, aided by the trees the sound seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere specific. Erik wondered idly if half the island could hear it. He didn't even consider there might be a risk of any military forces might be tracking it. Anything they could use to do so, would fall well below what Beast was capable of blocking or at least circumventing.

Erik held his ground as the plane landed, barely bouncing as it set down on the ground. He waited - calmly, he tried to convince himself - for the ramp to lower down and for Charles to meet him at its foot.

"Erik, how wonderful it would be to be able to say 'fancy meeting you here' but it's really not," Charles said sarcastically.

He'd had his hair cut and Erik could see it was thinning, but he had to admit that the style suited him far better than the hippie look had last time he'd seen him.

"You're the one who asked for this meeting, Charles, get to the point." Erik crossed his arms over his chest and attempted to loom over Charles. As it always had, it only garnered him a look of annoyance.

"I asked for this meeting because there are, once again, things you are not taking into consideration in your choice of hiding place." Charles gestured around them.

"We're not really hiding," Erik argued. "I think both the Americans and the Soviets know where we are." It didn't matter. They were on as neutral ground as possible.

"You're balancing on the knife's edge," Charles said with a sigh, folding his hands in his lap. "And I think it's a lot sharper than you do."

It wasn't lost on Erik how well the suit fit him, and the charcoal color was less of an eyesore than the outfit Charles had worn in Paris. Not that it mattered. He could admire Charles physically all he wanted. It was all it was going to be. "The Soviets won't touch us and neither will the Americans," Erik argued. And it was true. They would have time to lick their wounds and plot their next move.

"Erik…" Charles closed his eyes for a moment.

Erik waited for him to go on. He only took his eyes off Charles to track movement above the ramp. A young woman, girl really. Dark skin and white hair, was watching them with visible unease.

So Charles had been recruiting as well. Erik wondered briefly if Raven was back with Charles too. Then he pushed the thought away. It was of no consequence.

"Are you so eager to follow in Shaw's footsteps?"

Erik fought to not visible react, though he couldn't help the sneer escaping him. "I'm nothing like Shaw."

"Oh, Erik, but you are," Charles said, meeting his eyes. "This little island refuge you have found is not nearly as stable a hideout as you may think, and you 'hiding' here may have far worse repercussions for the world than you can imagine."

"You know how little I care about the humans," Erik began. He hated the lecturing half-condescending tone that Charles was using. It was one of the few things that never failed to remind Erik of his own mother. Not that Edie would have sounded like that, but she'd had a way, a tone, that had meant she was disappointed in Erik.

"If you stay here there is an overwhelming risk of you being the catalyst for a war between the Americans and the Soviets," Charles said quietly. "As much as you seem to think that no one will touch you here, it's just a matter of time before they want you more than they fear the risk of a nuclear war. One, I have to say, neither humans nor mutants will survive."

"Neither side will make a move - they're all too scared of starting another war," Erik scoffed.

Charles shook his head. "I have contacts in the Pentagon these days, Erik - trust me when I say that a move, at least on the US side, is not as far off as you may seem to think."

"Moira?" Erik was curious. Could she still be helping Charles? Not that it mattered, he told himself.

Charles huffed out a mirthless laugh. "Moira hasn't been by my side since shortly after Cuba," he said quietly. "While you may consider me a useless pacifist, Erik, I am not stupid. I know that the best defense is knowledge and intel."

Erik felt the surge of surprise. "I never saw you as a useless pacifist, Charles," he admitted, watching the other man closer. There was a worry line down between his eyebrows and the lines of his face seemed deeper than Erik remembered.

"Could have fooled me," Charles said drily. "You've accused me of as much on more than one occasion."

Erik lowered his gaze for the first time since he'd greeted Charles. Erik had always lived by the idea of life being too short for regrets, though he had to give Charles as much. "You're no coward," he replied quietly. "I consider your view on life slightly naive, however."

Charles laughed quietly. "If that is the worst thing you can call me, then I am blessed." He waited for Erik to meet his eyes again. “Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.”

Erik frowned. the words sounded familiar.

"Thomas Edison had the right idea."

Erik rolled his eyes. "Until everyone sees things that way, I'll be here to defend our kind. If we ever get to that point, I'll happily hand the cape of protector over to you."

"As long as it's not that purple eyesore," Charles muttered. "Erik, giving the militant bureaucrats in Washington and Moscow an excuse to start a war that will end us all, is not the right way."

"Well, if I agree to this, _if_ ," Erik emphasized, asking in jest, "where in the world do you suggest we hide that won't bother these great and almighty powers?" He had no intention of going anywhere just now. "The Sahara desert, the moon?"

"You could always come home."

Erik stared at him, not quite believing his ears. By God, the man actually meant it. There was nothing but tired determination in those familiar blue eyes.

"Don't be the excuse they're looking for, don't let them pin the war, that will be our end, on you." Charles stared at him, calmly, waiting for Erik's reply.

Erik tried to see the man he'd been reunited with on the plane - the one who had been in pain - both physically and mentally, unable - no - _unwilling_ to see things from Erik's point of view. And while he might have called Charles naive, he could see that there was an edge present - underneath the appealing and inviting personality. Charles wasn't the naive professor that Erik had first met. Nor was he the desperate, disillusioned hippie that had helped free Erik from underneath the Pentagon.

"I can make you no promises, old friend." Erik took a deep breath. His own intel had nothing about plans for trying to extract the Brotherhood from their current location, but he wasn't stupid. Charles was good at getting people on his side, could possibly have a more reliable source on the inside.

Erik wasn't sure that he could chance this not being true.

Charles watched him for a moment, then nodded slowly. "All I ask is that you think this through and you do so fast. Erik, we can not survive a war of nuclear proportions. Shaw may have thought so, but he wasn't a scientist as much as he wanted to consider himself so. Trust me when I tell you, our genes are not enough to save us."

Erik drew a deep breath, held it for a moment, the let it back out slowly. No, he wasn't a fool. Nor was he a gambler. His own life wasn't important, but that of his kind was. "I'll have to think about it."

"As I expected," Charles replied. "Just… promise me you'll do it quickly - and if you do not come to find me after, at least find somewhere that won't give them an excuse to start a war none of us can win."

Erik simply nodded and waited as Charles watched him for a few more moments before shaking his head and rolling back onto the ramp. The ramp whirred and slowly began rising. Erik told himself that he wasn't feeling a surge of regret as their line of sight was broken. He didn't have time for regret - he had to make choices of his own and speak to his newly formed Brotherhood.

The end

**Author's Note:**

> The island this takes place on is Bornholm, a small Danish island in the Baltic Sea. It is something we tend to forget, as Danes, that we were not all liberated from German occupation in May 1945 - that this little island's German occupational force was exchanged with a Russian one, and not until 1946 did the island find itself back under Danish rule. One of the agreements between Russia and Denmark was that no foreign force was allowed on the island - meaning no US or UK military. This created a tension that lasted decades. During this time the Soviet navy often patrolled the waters near the island, causing more tension than was needed. I watched a documentary on this a while back and Smitty and I briefly touched upon this island as a hideaway for Erik's Brotherhood - mainly because it would be a question of whether or not they could use it in regards to the risks they would be running. Would the US or USSR be willing to sacrifice an uneasy truce in order to neutralize the potential threat of the Brotherhood?
> 
> I shall hopefully next week return you to your regularly scheduled bouts of inappropriate humor. Maybe.


End file.
